Rainbow Six Siege players who use slurs are now getting instantly banned. Ubisoft's zero tolerance approach to toxicity was first installed in July, and Siege's brand director Alexandre Remy tells us the system is "evolving" as the dev aims to maintain and grow a respectful community. 

"The ban system is going strong, actually, and we feel very strongly about the system," Remy tells me at last month's Paris Major. "That system is going to be evolving too. Today, the system means that any player that uses homophobic or racial slurs in our chat will automatically receive a temporary ban. After three temporary bans you get permanently banned. 

"That is a very, very strong stance from Ubisoft and from the game about how we want to deal with toxicity in the game. That feature will evolve as we develop in the future, we plan to add filtering systems to stop those words even showing up at all in the chat, so it's going to be a little more flexible."

Remy says that regardless of future plans, though, the Siege team is "very passionate" about stamping out hateful communications. He admits that online PvP games are by nature adversarial, and therefore tend to invite toxicity. Nevertheless, he says "we have no regrets whatsoever when it comes to banning toxic players" and that being strong means clamping down to prevent bad behaviour from spreading. 

I admire Remy and Ubisoft's no bullshit stance, but I ask Remy how he views the suggestion from certain players that this zero tolerance approach impinges on freedom of speech. 

"There's a saying that goes something along the lines of 'your freedom ends where mine begins'," says Remy. "To us, it's not a question of freedom or equality, it's a question of respect. Behaving in a respectful way, I believe, is not a requirement that's beyond humanity. Respect is all we are asking for. I believe that with those measures that we're putting in place, we are exactly on the right path of making a community, as much as possible, that's respectful of one another."

Morgan's tips for playing Rainbow Six Siege’s newest operators are a sure fire way to master the squad shooter's freshest faces. Designing new combatants seems like a daunting task—but game director Leroy Athabassoff explains reworking them post-launch is equally important and can be trickier still, particularly once players have settled into certain playstyles.  

To this end, Frost, Castle and Thatcher are in the process of being reworked.   

"We are currently working on a Frost rework," Athabassoff tells me. "We have some issues with Castle. With team coordination he's okay, but at normal player level he's really average. People call him the sixth attacker because he can harm his whole team. How many times do you come back from roaming and there's a Castle barricade, and you're like: Oh shit! You feel trapped by your own defender. 

"With the rework, we're trying to maintain what he does well, but, ultimately, he shouldn't harm his own team. With that in mind, we have some design ideas that we're working on. The last one that we're introducing with Grim Sky is Thatcher. We're introducing the disable electronics state. [Thatcher will] no longer be able to destroy cameras with EMP, but instead will be able to disable them. What does that mean for players? It means there's now a layer of complexity that you need to learn."  

To this end, I ask Athabassoff what it's like when players take on new operators and use them in ways the development team hadn't expected. He tells me I'm wrong to assume he and his team have pre-set ideas as to how players will play, and they're simply creating tools for the player to use as they see fit. 

"When you say we have an idea, that's not actually true," says Athabassoff. "I think that's something that makes working on Siege completely differently from working on another game. If you think of single-player games, you are always thinking about these things, yes: I want the player to feel this, I'd like them to feel that; when they do this, I want them to experience that. But when you work on a multiplayer game like Siege, it's really different because the player's experience is carved by the nine other players. 

"Instead, what we are doing is crafting tools that help the player to build their own player experience. This is where we need to be super focused. This is why every time we make an operator, we keep in mind that it's a tool. A knife is cool because it can do a number of creative things - you're not obliged to kill someone with a knife. We could add certain tools that make one player's experience better, but if it makes the other nine players' experiences worse, then, no, it's removed at the prototype phase."

Rainbow Six Siege's latest campaign, Operation Grim Sky, went live earlier this week. 

Rainbow Six Siege's latest defender is a Scotland Yard officer named Clash. She's also a total badass that hulks around a near impenetrable electro-charged shield. After sampling the new operator at the squad shooter's Paris Major last month, I suggest to game director Leroy Athanassoff that Clash's safeguard might make her a good pick for cautious newcomers. 

"Good operators are easy to learn and hard to master," says Athanasoff. "I think Clash is the typical example of that. She can can coordinate with the team. In terms of understanding what she does, and having the ability as a player to safely move into the map—first of all, you can learn the map because you can go into situations without being shot right away because you're not aware. When you're not familiar with the map, it's way safer to scope out enemies [when carrying a shield] and to then alert your teammates. 

"To me, I always have this picture of when tourists swim with sharks inside a cage—you're still face to face with the sharks, but you're also protected. For me, Montagne and Clash are like this. Clash is a welcoming operative for new faces who also has a lot of depth." 

The second of Siege's new faces is Maverick—a hard breacher, who uses a blow torch to create "murder holes" for horizontal shooting. 

"You say hard breacher, but to us we consider Maverick to be the last breacher, your last colleague," Athanasoff tells me. "We might pair a hard breacher with Maverick—it's perhaps your last line of defence, a lost resort to rely on. Actually, when we were prototyping him, we were able to create a player we'd dreamed about from the outset, a player than can really interact with destruction. His moves are not predetermined, he actually has the ability to draw a burn, a shape into the metal. For us, Maverick's blow torch is the ultimate toy in terms of interaction."

With Maverick's horizontal shooting and, going back a little further, Outbreak's zombies, it seems like Athanasoff and his team are having fun—despite the serious tone of Siege's Tom Clancy book source material. 

"That's the thing, when you make an adaptation, when you make something based on something else into a videogame, it doesn't matter if you're not exactly by the book, letter by letter," Athanasoff explains. "I think sometimes that's the pitfall where people end up—when they're adapting from a movie or a TV show or book, I think we still have the core of what Siege was about, in terms of tension, combat, super units. You need to think, you need coordination, teamplay, I think we still have that, even today." 

Rainbow Six Siege’s Operation Grim Sky is officially out, which means there's some stuff to learn about the new operators and how their gadgets change things for Siege's older characters. Maverick and Clash are already proving to be transformative. Their kits are unique and strong, but strange enough that they require their own steep learning curve.

Maverick

Play him like a lone wolf

There’s no doubt that Maverick can work well when supporting the rest of your team, but he excels as a lone wolf. As a three-speed with an aggressive set of weapons, he’s great for quickly pushing to a sneaky position to best utilize his quiet blow torch. The goal here is to open sightlines onto objectives without the enemies noticing. Part of this is also avoiding the most obvious places to attack from. 

Don't treat him as just another Hibana or Thermite—the best time for Maverick to strike is amongst the chaos of conflicts happening elsewhere on the map, when the last thing anchors are worrying about is the reinforced wall behind them.

Cut the wall above your body

I’ve seen plenty of Mavericks (myself included) quickly killed off by making the same mistake: cutting out sightlines and holes with their head front-and-center behind the hole. There are much, much safer ways to open a wall without painting a big target on your head.

The blow torch has a very limited range, but it’s long enough to do your handiwork without putting yourself in immediate danger. Consider crouching or going prone and then cutting upwards at a wall. Avoid cutting a single small hole unless you’re sure nobody will notice, because like with any murder hole, this is the surest way for you to get quickly headshot. Instead, cut out larger holes or longer lines to add some maneuverability and make the enemy wonder where you’re aiming.

Consider a suppressor

With almost any other operator, it’s hard to recommend a suppressor. Sure, it makes each shot feel like you’re dropping baddies like James Bond, but the lowered damage and increased recoil usually outweigh the benefits. But in Maverick’s case, those benefits might be exactly what you need.

I've already mentioned how Maverick can excel as a stealthy operator that flanks the enemy from unexpected angles, but with a typical weapon loadout, your cover is quickly blown after a few shots fired. One of the best tools a player uses to quickly react to gunfire is the threat indicator, that white arrow that indicates where bullets are coming from when offscreen. But with a suppressor equipped, your bullets won’t activate the indicator for enemies. So, when attacking from an unexpected murder hole, a quieter and less visible weapon means the defenders will take even longer to pinpoint your location, or sometimes fail altogether. It’s enough of an advantage that it may just be worth the damage drop.

 Drone before cutting

As players get more used to Maverick’s bag of tricks, you can bet that they’ll be keeping a keen eye out for new cuts in objective walls. Because of this, you may find yourself getting flanked or countered when a defender sees your cutting in progress. Droning is generally a great idea for approaching any objective, but getting a quick layout of the enemy positions can be crucial for Maverick, so you know which walls to avoid and where you can exploit a lack of attention. This will also make your cutting more efficient, as you can cut only where you know you’ll be able to spot an enemy.

Clash

Never roam alone

Clash’s shield grants her the unique ability to wander around or outside the map with relative safety. She’s great for scouting the map and letting allies know where the attack is coming from, but be wary of being alone for too long. If a few attackers do catch up to you, you don’t have many options. Since your shield isn’t quite as sturdy as Monty’s, a melee hit while extended will knock away the shield long enough get a few shots in on your body and legs. Sure, you can slow them down, but only for a few moments. To avoid catastrophe, pair with another teammate when roaming around to capitalize on your callouts and slowdown abilities.

When it's just you left, ditch the shield

This connects to the previous point, but it’s something important to understand about Clash in general. When you’re alone, her shield becomes a complete hindrance. It’s not the same situation as Monty, where some luck and clever timing could let him turn the tides of an uneven fight. Clash has no defense against melee with her shield out, so it will always be a bad idea when going up alone. Before the enemy gets close, you must switch to your weapon.

At this point, Clash essentially becomes a normal operator, but thankfully, her kit is pretty good for self-defense. Her two-shot burst machine pistol is pinpoint accurate and easy to control, and her impact grenades can ensure that you have rotation options. And when you’re not holding the shield, it becomes a bulletproof shield protecting your back.

You can slow multiple enemies at once.

Clash’s shield doesn’t give great feedback for when it’s working. When an enemy is being shocked, you can notice they’re moving slower and see some burst of electricity on their body, but it’s still somewhat unclear without any feedback from the crosshair. But even though it’s not immediately obvious, the taser shield has a surprisingly long range of about 12 meters and can entrap several enemies at once. This means that Clash can essentially take over an entire hallway for the brief time she can zap them, which can be very powerful when your team is there to back you up. The slowdown or damage isn’t applied for teammates, so don’t be shy about using it around them. 

When allies are trying to shoot around you, don't move.

Veteran Monty players know this well, but it’s worth repeating for those dipping their toes into shield ops with Grim Sky. Think of yourself as a mobile piece of cover for your allies. Staying mobile and calling out enemy positions is important, but in a tight space and tense gunfights, the shield op is better off planting their feet in a good spot to provide cover while minimizing the risk of being teamkilled. This strategy can work especially well for Clash, since her shield is almost completely transparent. Standing still essentially creates a Mira window where you stand, where allies can line up shots and then have you step aside to take them down.

A couple of weeks ago, Epic began offering a free Fortnite dance emote to anyone who enabled two-factor authentication on their account. With the rollout of Operation Grim Sky today, Ubisoft is offering the same carrot for Rainbow Six Siege players, who will receive a unique Thermite skin for switching it on.

Instructions for enabling 2FA on your account are available on the Ubisoft forum, and to be frank it's not as smooth and simple as the processes offered by other platforms, like Steam or Battle.net. You'll need to install the Google Authenticator app on your mobile, and since it's only available on Android and iOS devices, if you don't have one of those I guess you might as well just stop reading right now.   

If you do have one, you'll then have to synchronize the app with your account after it's installed, then "validate the synchronization," and then save an image of your recovery codes so you can connect to your account if your authenticator craps out for some reason. I set it up for my Ubi account after recently starting Far Cry 5, and it did seem like kind of an unnecessary hassle: Origin just blasts a text message to my mobile whenever I need to horse around with something, for instance, which is a far simpler system that (as far as I can tell) is just as effective. 

In any event, you'll get two things when the job is done: A heightened sense of security that comes from knowing it's far less likely that anyone will be able to screw around with your Ubi account, and the exclusive bundle for Thermite, the popular hard breacher. If you've already enabled it on your account, good job—and yes, you'll get the skin too.

And if you play Rainbow Six Siege competitively, you soon won't have any choice: Ubisoft said in the Grim Sky patch notes that 2FA will soon be required to join Ranked matches. The exact date hasn't been set yet, but Ubisoft said it's aiming to make it happen sometime between the 3.1 and 3.2 patches.